Which Helpdesk Ticketing System?

[RabbieBurns]

I'm in the market for a new ticketing system, currently not using one at all.

 

Looking for something that ticks all, or at least the most of these boxes:

 

o Web-based

o Usability for teachers and admin staff

o Assign tickets to multiple technicians

o Calendar – department wide

o Compatible with e-mail ie: auto ticket creation as a result of sending an email

 Automatic reply to acknowledge request received

o Ability to:

 categorise jobs

 prioritise

 check the status of their ticket

 add notes to the jobs

 filter tickets by technician

 remind to users about tickets open

 document knowledge and processes

 

What does everyone here use? Paid-for solutions are perfectly acceptable, I'd much prefer a complete product at a price than something free that would take me weeks to configure.

[bladedanny]

osTicket:: Open Source Support Ticket System

 

Meets all of those. It's what we use.

[unixman_again]

We use HESK and in my previous school SysAid They are both OK; the latter has more features.

In enterprise I've used Kayako and Remedy which are overkill for schools but damn good!

[CyberNerd]

Google Groups Collaborative Inbox

 

https://support.google.com/a/answer/167430?hl=en

[john]

I'm in the market for a new ticketing system, currently not using one at all.

 

Looking for something that ticks all, or at least the most of these boxes:

 

o Web-based

o Usability for teachers and admin staff

o Assign tickets to multiple technicians

o Calendar – department wide

o Compatible with e-mail ie: auto ticket creation as a result of sending an email

 Automatic reply to acknowledge request received

o Ability to:

 categorise jobs

 prioritise

 check the status of their ticket

 add notes to the jobs

 filter tickets by technician

 remind to users about tickets open

 document knowledge and processes

 

What does everyone here use? Paid-for solutions are perfectly acceptable, I'd much prefer a complete product at a price than something free that would take me weeks to configure.

 

Spiceworks does most of them and is free

 

It doesn't do calendaring or poke users to say Oi reply or else, but it does everything else you have asked for

[tomdawson]

It's all about GLPI. Full ticketing system with inventory, knowledgebase/FAQs, item reservation, SLA/warranty reminders etc etc etc

 

GLPI - Gestionnaire libre de parc informatique

 

Top marks, and it's free, which we all love

[Sylv3r]

As mentioned above - we use Help Desk Software, Live Chat Software and Customer Service Software and love it. It probably works out quite expensive and a little overkill for your needs but it ticks all the boxes you require on your list.

[saajan4u]

spiceworks !

[RabbieBurns]

Kayako looks like it fulfils all our needs. Having a smart device native app looks like a bonus too.

 

for those of you that use Kayako can i ask you some questions please ( @Sylv3r and @unixman_again and any one else not yet here)

 

Have you ever had to contact support? as far as i can see all is listed is a +1 number, do they have a local number for most countries? is there any local support or 24/7 support?

 

How long did you find it took to set up?

 

Did/do your staff find it easy to use?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone else for the other suggestions.

Edited October 25, 2013 by RabbieBurns

[penfold_99]

Kayako looks like it fulfils all our needs. Having a smart device native app looks like a bonus too.

 

for those of you that use Kayako can i ask you some questions please ( @Sylv3r and @unixman_again and any one else not yet here)

 

Have you ever had to contact support? as far as i can see all is listed is a +1 number, do they have a local number for most countries? is there any local support or 24/7 support?

 

How long did you find it took to set up?

 

Did/do your staff find it easy to use?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone else for the other suggestions.

 

We used Kayako but have moved away from it in favour of zendesk.

 

Support is best via the live chat, it you have an issue the goes to developers just be prepared to wait a long time.

 

It's straight forward to install on site if you have ioncube or zend equivalent.

 

Configuration is the issue, there are so many options it will take a while.

 

The main reason for us moving was the knowledge base, it's pretty rubbish, zendesk is so much better plus it has screen steps integration.

 

Kayako will integrate with ldap but other integrations are best describes as flakey.

[RabbieBurns]

Thanks @penfold_99 very intersting to hear your thoughts.

 

We currently have no proper helpdesk so whatever we do will be a complete start from the ground up.

 

How does Zendesk compare licensing wise? From first look it seems its a per-tech/per-month cost? which gets costly when if we have a 5-10 person IT team?

 

Does zendesk have smartphone apps etc?

[rickypike]

We also have no proper help desk in place, I have just been testing FreshDesk (which is free on lowest plan) and seems pretty good

 

Also just looking at osTicket which does seem to do a lot

[unixman_again]

Have you ever had to contact support? as far as i can see all is listed is a +1 number, do they have a local number for most countries? is there any local support or 24/7 support?

 

How long did you find it took to set up?

 

Did/do your staff find it easy to use?

We did have a support contract, and we logged the few problems we had through their online help desk (which was Kayako). The only problems we had were some minor niggles during upgrades. We didn't need to talk to anyone as their written responses were brill.

 

Our helpdesk staff loved it. This was at an e-tailer and customers could log problems with products using our Kayako help desk. Our staff said the search facilities made their job easier if Joe Public phoned in wanting to know what was being done about their problem.

 

It was already installed when I started at the company, so I can't comment. Upgrades were a breeze though.

[Pudding]

Redmine -- Does everthing you've listed (and more) and its free.

[penfold_99]

Thanks @penfold_99 very intersting to hear your thoughts.

 

We currently have no proper helpdesk so whatever we do will be a complete start from the ground up.

 

How does Zendesk compare licensing wise? From first look it seems its a per-tech/per-month cost? which gets costly when if we have a 5-10 person IT team?

 

Does zendesk have smartphone apps etc?

 

Zendesk vs kayako hosted price is roughly the same. You will save going to for onsite kayako.

 

Zendesk does have a very good smartphone app, its better thought out than kayakos one but kayakos is still pretty good.

[penfold_99]

AFAIK @CyberNerd uses FreshDesk, he might be able to post some comments about it.

[CyberNerd]

AFAIK @CyberNerd uses FreshDesk, he might be able to post some comments about it.

 

Not me. We're Google Apps users.

[Edu-IT]

Trying SirPortly at the moment. http://www.sirportly.com

[Griff]

Spiceworks..awesome

[siuko]

Have been using Spiceworks for quite a while now - but I've often found it a little cluttered.

 

Have just installed and got OSTicket running - with a few tweaks it seems a very nice minimalist ticketing and knowledgebase system.

 

Looks very nice and have SSO / Ldap implemented to make it very quick for staff to post a ticket.

[Nick_Parker]

@CyberNerd, how long have you been using collaborative mailbox for ticketing?

Any Pros/Cons you'd be able to share?

[CyberNerd]

@CyberNerd, how long have you been using collaborative mailbox for ticketing?

Any Pros/Cons you'd be able to share?

 

Biggest con I've found is that you can't change the default 'reply from' address and it always replies from the mailbox of the user who replied to the ticket.

You have to change it to 'reply from group' each time you send. I don't think it would be such an issue in an environment where one person is allocated a ticket and deals with it 'forever' but it's a pain if you want to escalate things.

[bossman]

@RabbieBurns:

 

We have used Liberum helpdesk for what seems like ages but the staff absolutely love it, @webman reconfigured the webfront for us and embedded it in our intranet it takes just a couple of clicks to report for the end user, has all but 2 of the criteria you mentioned and above all it is free.

 

Key features of Liberum Help Desk:

 

Completely web-based

E-mail notifications

Can utilize Windows authentication, so you don't need to manage another database of users

Allows for better communication between users and support reps: users can view progress on problems and submit additional information

Built-in reporting to keep track of support reps, which departments are making requests, and what types of problems are being reported

Easily customizable to fit your needs

IT'S COMPLETELY FREE!!

 

Home - Liberum Help Desk

 

It might suit you sir?

[Falls]

We've just started using Freshdesk really nice & simple to use, fully customiseable (if that's even a word) very professional looking & great support even with the free version.

 

It's got a big thumbs up here so far

[Sylv3r]

As Penfold mentioned, on the very rare occasions we have needed to contact support we use the live chat and 9/10 they have been able to resolve the issue / query straight away. A couple of things that we identified were bugs and were sorted for the next release. Releases tend to be made available probably once every couple of months. I am not sure what the support times are, but theres always been someone available when I have contacted them during the day UK time anyway.

 

We used the previous release initially and it didn't take too much configuring - their support team would also I think setup the system on your own kit if you give them access via a RDP connection or root on a linux box.

 

The support staff love the product, the teachers haven't known anything different so they don't really have anything to compare it with but i've had no complaints.

 

We take a lot of out of hours requests from students and parents also for password reminders to our Parent Learning Gateway etc and the feedback from parents is always pretty good too.

 

If you think of anything else, give me a shout. Kayako put us forward to speak to someone working in a university and this is a copy of the e-mail I sent back to answer some of his questions which may also be helpful.

 

· What version do you use?

 

We currently use the latest release of Kayako. 4.? We have used Kayako now for around 8 years moving from version 3 initially to the latest version now. The initial migration to version 4 was a major issue as the product clearly was finished and it seemed very much in beta stage with updates constantly being released to fix issues. For the last 12 months has been very stable and the number of updates have been reduced.

 

· Why did you choose Kayako?

 

We initially created our own system for inhouse support, and although the system did the job, it did have it's limitations and it needed a lot of work done to it to get it to be a business standard product. Kayako was one of many we trialled and it seemed to tick the boxes and met the needs of our school.

 

· Did you look at other systems?

 

We looked at various systems, although off the top of my head I can't remember all of them. Spiceworks was one, but I felt the helpdesk module was a bolt on rather than the actual main product.

 

· What has the feedback from end users been with Kayako?

 

Feedback is generally good, we don't provide logons to the end users and all jobs are reported via e-mail. I.e. the member of staff, parent or student e-mails directly to: ithelpdesk@*******.co.uk and they then received an automated reply to say their request has been logged and will receive e-mailed updates throughout the progression until closure. We felt providing staff with an additional username and password would be too much + it didn't really offer anything in addition.

 

· Do you just use with IT or have other departments started using it? (premises..)

 

We currently only use it for IT, although I am considering rolling it out to the premises team. They don't seem to get too many requests though so I am not sure if it will complicate things. It certainly can however cope with multiple helpdesks running.

 

· Have you purchased any ‘add on’ modules to use with Kayako?

 

We use the Kayako Fusion product which I think is the product with all the add on's. We utilise the chat and VNC capabilities for when parents have issues logging onto our Learning Gateway from home. We can remind them of their password or even take control of their screens remotely to see exactly what error message they are receiving. We also have started to utilise the Knowledgebase to provide small helpguides and short videos on how to the most common requests we get through the helpdesk. The Live Chat is available on our website http://www.*******.sch.uk or the Knowledgebase at ***********

 

· Who did you buy it off?

 

We bought it direct from Kayako.

 

· Did you install/setup yourself? If not who did you use.

 

We installed it ourselves onto our hosted webserver, the help guides available are generally pretty good. The support is also very good as whenever we have a query they appear to know the product well and generally can let us know the answer or will dial in and make a change to the config etc.

 

Kayako looks like it fulfils all our needs. Having a smart device native app looks like a bonus too.

 

for those of you that use Kayako can i ask you some questions please ( @Sylv3r and @unixman_again and any one else not yet here)

 

Have you ever had to contact support? as far as i can see all is listed is a +1 number, do they have a local number for most countries? is there any local support or 24/7 support?

 

How long did you find it took to set up?

 

Did/do your staff find it easy to use?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone else for the other suggestions.